A Boy and His Owl
by Sand-wolf579
Summary: When Arthur Weasley got his third son the owl, they both knew it was just so the teenager could have somebody with him at school who would listen and understand him.
1. Chapter 1

**Look, another fanfiction about Percy...and my obsession with him only started this last time I read the whole series over again...for like the tenth time. Anyways, hope you enjoy.**

**Oh, and I don't own Harry Potter, or any of the characters from the series, really I don't.**

Summer was probably Percy's least favorite season, always had been, always will be. It was much too hot for Percy's taste, and his siblings enjoyed it way too much, especially Fred and George. With the way they acted, you would think they didn't know how to live without blowing something up. Those boys always got on Percy's nerves, so he took to just spending the summer in his bedroom, where Fred and George would never even think of going.

So, fifteen year old Percy sat at the small desk in his bedroom, going over his homework, for the fifth time. He already finished all his homework, so now he had taken to checking his homework over to make sure that he did it right and to his liking. Percy was concentrating so much on the essay he was currently looking over that he didn't even hear the knock on the door. He only looked up when whoever knocked just went ahead and opened the door.

"Hey Percy." Arthur Weasley says. Percy finally looked up from his work

"Hello father." Percy says as he sets aside the parchment he was looking over. He's already checked it over, multiple times, he could stand not making sure it's perfect to talk to his father. Arthur still stands in the doorway and Percy smiles a little. Sure, he liked his privacy, but that didn't mean anybody was banned from entering his room.

"You can come in, you know." Percy says.

"I thought you didn't like anybody else in your room." Arthur says as he comes into Percy's room.

"That's what I told Fred and George when they used to try to come in here to bug me." Percy says, "Honestly I wouldn't mind a little company every once in a while."

"If you want company, why not go and be around your siblings?" Arthur asks. Honestly, he was a little worried. Percy was the most secluded of all his children, and Arthur didn't like how distant Percy was getting with his brothers. Sure, he still got along with Ginny, but Ginny was starting to spend more time with Fred and George, and in a few years they'll probably become distant too.

"They didn't ask me to," Percy says casually, "Besides, they're playing Quidditch." Percy was probably the only one in the family who wasn't obsessed with Quidditch. Yeah, he enjoyed watching the game sometimes, but he would never play it. His siblings all thought it was because he was just a boring git who thought the game was pointless, but Arthur knew it was because Percy and flying really didn't go well together. The few times that Percy did fly resulted in him getting a very upset stomach.

"Alright, so what are you doing up here on your own?" Arthur asks.

"Just going over my homework." Percy says.

"Didn't you finish it the day you got home from school?" Arthur asks jokingly. Even stick-in-the-mud Percy couldn't not smile at that comment.

"Something like that," Percy says, "I'm just making sure it's right, changing it a bit here and there."

"Doesn't that get a little boring?" Arthur asks, "I know you love school, but even you must get bored from that."

"A little," Percy admits, "But I'll be going back to school soon, so it's no big deal."

"Ah, speaking of school, you're mother told me that you have just been made Prefect." Arthur says, this was what he'd come up to talk to Percy about. Percy glances over to the Prefect badge sitting on his desk.

"It's not that big a deal." Percy says, but his tone of voice said otherwise, he was proud, even though there was only one other Gryffindor boy that could've been a Prefect.

"We both know that's not true." Arthur says. He comes over to Percy and puts his arm around his shoulder, "Just promise me, Percy, that you don't go getting a big-head about this. You're a Prefect so you can help the teachers and other students, not so you can go around thinking you're better than everyone else."

"I know, dad," Percy says, sounding a bit irritated. "regardless of what Fred and George say, I don't flaunt around how amazing I am, it's not my fault everybody else see's it that way.

"Well, try to show them otherwise." Arthur says. "Oh, and I have something for you. Come with me." Arthur then leads Percy from his solitary bedroom to downstairs.

"Alright, what are we doing?" Percy asks, somewhat cautiously.

"Well, Percy, you've worked hard to become a Prefect," Arthur says, "And that sort of thing needs to be rewarded." The two of them walk into the kitchen and Percy sees Errol sleeping, like he seemed to do a lot, but there was another owl there.

"An owl?" Percy says, looking at the handsome screech owl.

"Yes, an owl. Handsome creature, isn't he?" Arthur says, looking at the bird, "When Bill became a Prefect, we let him pierce his ears...which is a decision that your mother still regrets."

"I bet she does," Percy says, the shadow of a smirk on his face.

"Yes, well, we both agreed that you would probably prefer something else, and we decided on an owl." Arthur says.

"But, why?" Percy asks, "And aren't owls sort of expensive?"

"Don't you go worrying about money, Percy, that's my job." Arthur says somewhat sternly, but he didn't stay serious for long, "I thought you might like an owl of your own because the four years that you've been at Hogwarts, you have used the school owls to write home at least three times a week. Now I'm not saying that's a bad thing," Arthur says hastily when Percy's ears go red and he opens his mouth to say something, "But I just thought you'd like to have your own owl rather than constantly use the school ones."

Percy looked at the owl for a minute before asking "What's his name?"

"He's your bird, it just makes sense that you be the one to name him." Arthur chuckles.

Percy looks at his owl for another minute before saying "I'll have to think about that for a bit." Percy holds out his arm and the screech owl immediately hops on the teenagers arm. "I'm going to go take him upstairs." Percy says. Percy heads back upstairs, then stops and says one more thing to his father.

"Don't think I don't know why you really got me an owl." Percy says before returning to his bedroom. Arthur Weasley can't help but sigh at that. Of course Percy realized why they'd really gotten him an owl, he was a smart boy. Getting him an owl so he could write him easier was just part of the reason. Percy mailed home so often because, besides his parents and maybe his older brothers, he really didn't have many other people that he felt he could talk to. Arthur got Percy an owl because it would be good for the teenager to have somebody else there for him, even if that someone was a pet owl.

By the next morning, all of Percy's younger siblings knew about his owl. Fred and George were annoyed, Ron was slightly jealous, but Ginny was ecstatic and wanted to meet the owl. So at breakfast Percy brought his owl downstairs with him to let Ginny hold him, like she really wanted to.

"What's his name?" Ginny asks as she gently strokes the bird.

"Well, I thought about it for a while last night, but decided on the name Hermes." Percy says, "You know, like the greek messenger of the gods." Ginny thought that the name suited the screech owl well, but Fred and George thought completely differently. Percy was seriously naming his owl after the messenger for the gods? The only message this told the thirteen year old twins was that Percy was thinking of himself as a god, and his owl as his messenger, nothing else.

"A god, Perce?" Fred says, "You've known you're a Prefect for maybe a month, and already you think you're god worthy?"

Percy looks at Fred curiously, "What are you talking about?"

"Oh, Fred, you should feel honored," George remarks, "The mighty Percival has graced you by speaking directly to you."

"What are you two going on about?" Percy asks, his ears starting to turn red. He really didn't like where this was going.

"So, tell us Perce, if Hermes is the messenger of the gods, then what god does that make you?" Fred asks.

"God of the gits, maybe." George suggests.

"Or god of the prats." Fred says.

Fred and George continued on like this for a minute, with each suggestion crueler and meaner than the last. Percy refused to hear this, he didn't need to listen to this. Percy stormed back upstairs to his room, slamming the door behind him. Even after he left, Fred and George continued on with their insults until Hermes flew over to them and bit both of them, hard.

Fred and George both pulled back their hands with a yelp. What did that stupid owl do that for? They didn't ever do anything to it. And now their hands were bleeding. What, was the bird trying to bite their fingers off? The boys couldn't even get back at the owl, because it had immediately flown out the window.

Percy sat on his bed, wondering why he was getting so frustrated with Fred and George right now. It's not like he hasn't heard this sort of thing from them before, but this was getting ridiculous. He couldn't even name his owl without them making a big joke out of him. Did he really come off as that conceited and arrogant?

tap tap tap. Percy looks toward his window and sees Hermes just outside, wanting to come inside. Percy sighs and goes over to open the window for him. Hermes quickly flies in and looks up at Percy. The teenager shakes his head and strokes his feathers. Hermes really was a handsome looking bird, and seemed to actually enjoy Percy's company, which was a trait that Percy honestly didn't see very often.

A few minutes later there was a knock on the door. Without waiting for an answer, Arthur opens the door and steps into Percy's room. He was a little curious as to why the boy wasn't down at breakfast...and also why Fred and George were complaining about 'the stupid git's bird.'"

"Hey Percy,"Arthur says, "You doing alright up here?"

"Yeah, we're fine." Percy says, speaking of both Hermes and himself.

"Tell me, what did Fred and George do this time?" Arthur asks, his arms across his chest.

"Same thing they always do," Percy shrugs, "I just wasn't in the mood to listen to it today."

"That's understandable." Arthur says. He looks at the owl that Percy is still stroking, "Do you have any idea why Fred and George told me that your owl bit them for no reason?"

Percy's eyes widen and he looks at Hermes, "You bit them?" he asks the bird. Obviously the owl doesn't answer, but Percy could tell that his owl had indeed bit his brothers. Percy couldn't help but smile, Hermes was a pretty smart bird.

"I don't think it was for no reason." Percy says.

"Neither do I," Arthur agrees. They both realized that Hermes had just been defending the teenager. Looks like getting Percy the owl was a good idea after all. Well, Percy was okay, so Arthur really didn't need to stay in here much longer.

"Well, I'm going back downstairs, to see if your mother needs any help with something," Arthur says somewhat awkwardly. Talking to Percy was starting to be a lot harder than it really should be. Before he can leave the room though, Percy says something that Arthur rarely hears him say.

"Hey, dad, thank you for getting me Hermes." Percy says. Arthur smiles, Percy only ever called him father. The few times that Percy did call him dad, he really meant it. Strange how hearing that one word made Arthur so pleased.

"No problem," Arthur says, "Just try to teach him to not hurt people."

Percy chuckles a bit, "I'll try" he says. Arthur leaves the room and closes the door behind him. Percy had only had the owl for not even a day, and already Arthur could tell that they would be close to each other. Percy would speak to his owl like it was just another person, and Hermes would be there for Percy when nobody else wanted to be. Yes, buying Hermes really was the best thing that Arthur could have done for Percy then, and it was appreciated.

**Alright, that seemed a bit awkward. I really wasn't sure what I was doing with this. Please forgive any OOCness that may be there, I'm just a fanfiction writer, not a professional. And believe it or not, there is more to come, this is not a one-shot.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello, look, I'm back, like I said I would be. This one though takes place near the end of the second book, you know, when Ginny got taken down to the chamber...yeah, there.**

**So, yeah, I don't own Harry Potter, I'm not nearly a good enough writer to be J.K. Rowling.**

In most cases Percy enjoyed writing back home, to still be in contact with his parents, to let them know what's going on in his life. Even if his brothers had a tendency to make fun of him for it, just like everything else he ever did. Percy never listened to them though, there's no law that says sixteen-year-olds can't miss home sometimes. However, Percy would give everything he had if he just didn't have to write this letter...this stupid letter.

Percy ran his fingers through his hair, it wasn't fair, why was he the one that had to write home to tell their parents what had happened to Ginny? Couldn't one of the teachers do this? Or were they only willing to break the bad news to parents if their kids were in detention? This shouldn't be Percy's job. It just wasn't fair, at all.

It took another thirty minutes, but Percy was able to finish the very short letter, although he wasn't sure how legible it was. His mind was so jumbled up that the sentences probably made no sense, and that was if you could read them. Percy usually had good hand-writing, but no matter how hard he tried he just couldn't get his hand to stop shaking long enough to write one word.

Once Percy had finally finished the letter he lifted his hand and stroked Hermes, who had been sleeping in his usual place. Hermes wasn't like most owls who slept in the Owlery, he stayed in Percy's and Oliver's room. At first Oliver was against it, but Percy was able to convince his fellow Gryffindor that if he could bare through all the dirty Quidditch robes that Oliver had a habit of leaving in the middle of the floor, then Oliver could stand having an owl in the room.

"Hey, buddy, I need you take this letter for me, alright?" Percy says, his voice trembling slightly. Hermes doesn't immediately take the letter like he usually did, he just stared at Percy. The two of them had a kind of staring contest for a minute before Hermes took the letter in his beak and flew out the already open window. Once his owl had left Percy sighed and flopped down on his bed, but not before taking off his glasses and setting them on the small table beside the bed.

This whole year had been a total nightmare, okay, maybe not the whole year, it actually started out pretty good. Percy had actually really been looking forward to this year, for a start, it was Ginny's first year, and Percy had been excited for her. Second of all, this year, Percy actually had a girlfriend, Penelope Clearwater, the only student who didn't seem to think he was the biggest git of all time.

But, of course, because things seemed to be going okay for a bit, they had to go wrong, like they always seemed to do. With students being attacked left and right, things had become a lot harder and more stressful than they should be. It just got worse when Penelope got petrified, Percy had never felt so useless before, but he shouldn't have let that distract him from his responsibilities, and not just his prefect ones either. Ginny was his younger sister, he was supposed to help and protect her. But no, he just had to be caught up in just himself, some big brother he was.

_tap tap tap_

Percy snapped his eyes open, he hadn't even really realized he had closed them, and turned his head to find Hermes sitting back on the desk, staring at him.

"Hermes, what are you doing here?" Percy asks, sitting up on his bed and facing the bird, "I told you to go send the letter." Percy then noticed that said letter wasn't in sight, "What did you do with the letter?" Percy asks.

Hermes replied by pecking Percy's hand (He had a habit of doing that when he thought that someone was wrong or getting off track.)

"Ow, what was that for?" Percy asks, pulling his hand away. "Fine, don't deliver the letter, just go away, I want to be alone right now." Hermes eyes softened a bit, the owl had known Percy for more than a year now, he knew the boy well, so Hermes knew that usually when Percy said he wanted to be alone, he most always meant 'don't leave, I don't want to be alone'. So instead of leaving, Hermes hopped over to Percy's bed and put his head against Percy's hand.

"Fine, have it your way." Percy says stiffly as he strokes his bird and lies down again. Even though he made it sound like he really didn't want Hermes around, it was quite the opposite, he was really glad that Hermes was stubborn enough to stay with him, even when he said he didn't want company.

"Did you at least make sure that the letter would get to my parents?" Percy asks his owl. This wasn't actually the first time that Hermes refused to deliver a letter himself, but he always made sure the letter got where it needed to go. Hermes screeched in response and Percy knew he had made sure the job would get done.

"I'm such an idiot." Percy mutters to himself as he lies back down again. "Ginny's been having a hard time all year, if I had just thought of talking to her about it then maybe-she might not be…" Percy's voice trails off. The upset teenager shut his eyes tightly, to try to keep from letting tears fall, but they did anyways.

"I don't know what to do, Hermes," Percy admits, his voice cracking a bit, much to his dismay, "I mean, I'm supposed to be the older brother, I'm supposed to keep my siblings out of trouble. Yet Fred and George don't listen to a word I say and get in detention every other day. Then there's what happened last year to Ron and his friends, all of them could have died. Now Ginny…" Percy trails off again and sighs, "I guess I'm just not good at being an older broth-ow!" Percy yelps, for Hermes and pecked at him again.

"Why do you keep doing that?" Percy asks, glaring at the bird to see that the owl was glaring right back at him.

"Don't look at me like that, it's true." Percy says, turning his head away from the owl's gaze, "I'm always putting myself above my siblings, meeting my own personal wants before thinking of them. When I do remember them, I try to help them, but whatever I do is just never good enough."

Hermes moved so he was looking into Percy's eyes again. For some reason, the look in Hermes' eyes reminded Percy of something that his father had told him when the two of them had had a conversation very similar to this one.

_The most important thing is that you're trying, that alone says more than you think. Yes, you can improve, but so can every other person on the planet. Just keep trying, and it'll be fine._

Why did Percy remember that? There was no explanation, but oddly Hermes now looked satisfied, as if he knew what Percy had remembered, and was glad he had gotten the message. Hermes then looked from Percy to his pillow and Percy suddenly felt very tired.

"What, you want me to sleep?" Percy asks. Hermes nods his head a bit and Percy rolls his eyes, "It's the middle of the afternoon, it's too early to sleep." However, Hermes was looking at him in such a way that he couldn't just not do as he said. Percy was exhausted, even Hermes could see that Percy hadn't had a good night sleep since the chamber of secret's had opened again, what with all the added responsibilities given to the prefects, and the worrying, and of course he had to keep up with his school work.

"Fine, I'll get some sleep," Percy gave in with little resistance. Hermes nodded again and flew over to the desk again, for the bird was also planning on taking a nap. Percy shook his head at his owl's strangeness, bit a;sp settled into a position to fall asleep comfortably. Percy's last thought before he fell asleep was the hope that, somehow, things would be right again when he woke up.

**Yeah, I'm not sure how good that was, I just know it took a while to write. The ending may be weird, but honestly, I find that when I'm upset, I'm suddenly tired and just want to sleep, get away from this world for a few hours. I hope that Percy's still in character...even though I'm having him basically talking to himself. Thanks for reading, and please review.**


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